Flat Pattern Will Not Nest

[darryn_mott]

I have a piece of sheet metal that will make a flat pattern but will not nest.  I get an error message but cannot find anything about it.

Below is a screenshot of the error and the .ipt is attached.

Thank you all in advance.

[MattWynn · Accepted solution]

There is no closed profile on OuterProfileLayer and InteriorProfilesLayer.

Save the flat as an R12 DXF and you can see part of the problem.

The straight edges are on layer 0 which is perfect.

The curved edge is on layers IV_FEATURE_PROFILES and IV_FEATURE_PROFILES_DOWN, and I think these are ignored for nesting - there are two lines very close to each other.

That is the why you have the errors.  I'm not an expert in sheet metal so I can't help with why you have that geometry, or the best way to fix it.

[darryn_mott]

Thank you Matt.  I was also able to see the problem area with the nest authoring command.  I extruded a straight solid on the flat pattern over the problem area and the nest software was good with it.

[MattWynn]

Great news!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Darryn,

I think I see the issue now. This is about the lateral faces not perpendicular to the sheet metal faces. There is a simple technique to ensure perpendicularity. You can either use Thicken -> Intersect twice (once inside-out and once outside-in).

Many thanks!